Nation's Top Lineman Award Recognizes Two Razorbacks

July 10, 2015

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas offensive linemen Denver Kirkland and Sebastian Tretola have been named to the Outland Trophy watch list, given annually to the nation’s best interior lineman. The list was announced Friday by the Football Writers Association of America.

Kirkland enters the 2015 campaign with 21 consecutive starts and has played all 25 games of his two-year career. The junior played more than 750 snaps at right guard last season and graded out at 79 percent while allowing just one sack. He was penalized only three times throughout the entire 2014 campaign. Kirkland will move to left tackle this year where he will be tasked with protecting the quarterback’s blind side.

Tretola started the final 11 games of the 2014 season at left guard after he transferred to Arkansas from Iowa Western CC. He played more than 690 snaps and did not allow a sack, averaging a grade of 79 percent, tied for the second-highest mark on the team. The senior also launched a Heisman campaign after he threw a 6-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal against UAB.

Kirkland and Tretola were part of the largest offensive line in the nation in 2014 – averaging 328.4 pounds per player. The Razorback offensive line was bigger than any starting unit in the NFL. It paid dividends as Arkansas led the Southeastern Conference in fewest sacks allowed (14). Kirkland and Tretola also helped pave the way for Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins to run for 1,000 yards each, the only duo in the FBS to top the 1,000-yard mark.

The winner of the 70th Outland Trophy, named after the late John Outland, an All-America lineman at Penn at the turn of the 20th century, will be announced on ESPN at The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 10 for the first time from the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

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